The Secret of Writing a Bestseller…

…get some friends to help.

And if those friends are the very, very best in the field, it really, really helps.

What on earth am I talking about?

I recently contributed a chapter (Selling for the Independent Professional) to the newly released book Mastering the World of Selling by Eric Taylor and David Riklan, published by John Wiley. I heard a few minutes ago that it’s just hit #1 in Amazon’s list of Business Management books.

I got my copy today, coincidentally on release day. I feel really quite humbled by the company I’m in: Linda Richardson who literally invented Consultative Selling. Neil Rackham whose methodical studies of the field revolutionised sales techniques. And Charlie Green (author of the Trusted Advisor) and Ford Harding (author of Rainmaking) – two men who I’m proud to know and who have helped me immensely over the years. The list of experts is huge.

So here’s the key point: how on earth did I get in there?

There’s a famous cartoon by Peter Steiner published in the New Yorker that says “On the internet, nobody knows you’re a dog”. That’s kind of how I feel.

10 years ago, even 5 maybe, the chances of a “new kid on the block” like me being included in such a publication were practically nil. It didn’t matter how much you knew, how much of an expert you were or what great new insights you had: the chances were that you simply wouldn’t be found. And even if you were found, you wouldn’t have enough of a following to justify inclusion in a major book.

But things are different now. You don’t need HBR articles, academic papers or a published book. Get your ideas and thoughts out on a blog (and put a little bit of work into getting that blog rated on the search engines) and if they’re good, your ideas will be found. You will be found.

And you just might end up part of a great project like Mastering the World of Selling. Something I can actually show my Mum and feel proud of.

So if you’re a consultant, a coach, and independent profesional: what are you doing on the web to get known? Get yourself a blog and get writing!

And if you want to buy a copy of Mastering the World of Selling – head over here. You’ll be able to get free downloads of books, training courses and videos from the authors and a whole load of other contributors. My contribution is a video on how to generate leads for your business online.

But most importantly: if I can do it, you can do it.

Update: I’ve just heard I’ve also been listed as one of the Top 20 Sales Professionals on the Web over at the Lead411 Blog. It’s the same story essentially – thanks to regular blogging and sharing my ideas freely, I get noticed. And it can work the same for you.

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